MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. A second overhauled and fundamentally upgraded strategic bomber Tupolev-22M3M has performed its first flight, a source in the defense-industrial complex has told TASS.

The plane took off from and landed at the airdrome of the Kazan aircraft-building plant.

The press service of the public joint stock company Tupolev (an affiliate of the united aircraft-building corporation governed by the state corporation Rostec) has confirmed the flight, adding that the purpose was to estimate the takeoff and landing parameters of the plane and test the IT and control system.

The press service said the second Tupolev-22M3M will begin a series of test flights in the near future.

The first experimental Tupolev-22M3M took off on December 28, 2018. Another source in the defense-industrial complex specified that the first experimental bomber had made 18 successful flights by the end of October 2019.

Tupolev-22M3M

The newest upgraded missile-carrying bomber Tupolev-22M3M performed its first flight on December 28, 2018. The flight at an altitude of 1,500 meters lasted 37 minutes.

According to the Public Joint Stock Company Tupolev, the plane has an expanded combat potential. A former commander of Russia’s Aerospace Force, Viktor Bondarev, who currently leads the Federation Council’s defense and security committee, has said the upgraded bomber is capable of carrying cruise missiles X-32 and hypersonic missiles.